Rennmax BN1

Bob Britton set out to build a Lotus 20 copy from photographs and measurements but, after the first chassis had been built, he was able to get a Lotus 22 to copy and built a jig from that. A further six cars were built from that jig. The BN1 was essentially a Lotus 20 with Lotus 22 suspension.

A total of eight cars are shown here but Mal Cooper's disappears early so one of the later cars could be second-hand.

Thanks to Ray Bell and Bryan Miller for their help constructing these histories, to Kevin Davis for sorting out the two Laurie Ellis cars with the help of Laurie and Roger Ealand, to Harry Hickling for details of his car and for the photograph, and to Kevin Taylor for details of his car. All and any help would be gratefully received. Please e-mail Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can add anything.

Car

History

Currentowner

Rennmax-Lotus
'the first Ellis car'

Built for Laurie Ellis but this was before Britton was able to acquire a Lotus 22 to copy. When Britton built a jig to make Lotus copies, Ellis sold this car unfinished to Des Gay 1963 who completed it with a 1500cc Ford and raced it as a Lotus - Brendan Tapp (Tasmania) 1968 and raced as Lotus - traded to Bill Reynolds (Wren Racing Cars) for a new Wren - F Houston 1970 (as a Lotus) - Colin Fulton 1971 (as Lotus) - Gunter Tippman - Jim Shepherd 1974 (as Lotus) and started to restore it to Lotus 20 specs only to discover it wasn't a Lotus 20. To Mike Ferrari and Bruce Gladstone 1979 - Les Sergeant 1982 - Anthony Taska 1984 - Graeme Clark 1986 - Ross Hodge 1988, none of whom completed the restoration. To David Doubtfire 2008. Then unknown until bought by Roger Ealand 2011. Retained 2012.

Kingsley Hibbard (first recorded outing 8
Sep 1963; initially 1096cc and Gunmetal Blue). Hibbard Warwick Farm 16 Feb
1964. To Ken Ward as 1100cc then 1300; retained. Ward drove the car in historic racing in 2004 but died at the end of 2006. To Noel Brian (secretary of the HSRCA in Sydney) and being used in 2008.

Noel Brian (Aus) 2008

Rennmax BN1
'the Williamson car'

Peter Williamson (first recorded outing 16
Feb 1964; initially 1489cc supercharged pushrod Ford):
it was the third car built and Williamson used it to win the 1964 Warwick Farm Tourist Trophy. To Paul Bolton (Hillman Minx engine): Gold Star
1964, Blair Shepherd
in 1966, Brian Power (pushrod Ford): Gold Star
1968, Gold Star
1970, Brian Schuster and later drivers only
in minor events. Owned since the early 1980s by Harry Hickling and restored by Gary Simkin with help from Bob Britton. Retained 2008.

Harry Hickling (Aus) 2008

Rennmax BN1
'the Reynolds car'

The ex-Tony Reynolds Rennmax BN1 chassis as bought by Kevin Taylor in 2013. Copyright Kevin Taylor 2013. Used with permission.

According to the CAMS logbook (N878 issued 13 February 1968), it was sold by Christian to Dean Rainsford (Dudley Park, South Australia) in Oct 1990. Restored by Rainsford for Australian FJ historic racing in 2002 but not believed to have been raced.
To Kevin Taylor (Maida Vale, Western Australia) May 2013. Expected to return to historic racing in 2013.

Kevin Taylor (Aus) 2013

Rennmax BN1
'the second Ellis car'

Laurie Ellis and completed with a 1500 pushrod Ford. Sold in 1969 to Ivor Valentine (driven by his son John) - Monty South (Ryde) 1972 - Kevin Davis 1973 and fitted with a 1300 Xflow Ford Kent engine in 1974 and run as a F3 until 1977; retained 2012.

Kevin Davis (Aus) 2012

Rennmax BN1
'the Small car'

Warren Small. Later to Percy Hunter,
then Errol Richardson, in his hands very successful
in NSW hillclimbs resulting in the championship between 1967 and 1974. Then to Alec Brincat. Later purchased from Murray Richards as a rolling chassis and sold on to Rob Hands (Victoria, Aus) some time before 1999. Raced by Hands in Australian historics from 1999 to 2003. With Ron Woodbridge June 2012.

Ron Woodbridge (Aus) 2012

It has been reported that the second Ellis car was originally built by Bob Britton for Geoff McClelland 1962 as a rolling chassis but never completed.